Eyes Like Tomatoes
by namedthingsyouthrowback
Summary: Prussia meets ChibiRomano. Inspired by a passage in my history textbook going on about how much Friedrich II loved Sicily- not Alte Fritz, but Frederick of the HRE, but the idea stuck in my head anyway. Tags on to 'It Works For Us', but just fine to read alone.


The sounds of smacks and yelps trailed off down the hall as Spain's boss dragged him away. Prussia sighed, shifted his sword on his him, and sat in a thickly upholstered red chair to wait. He looked around idly. Landscape paintings, a Christian cross inlaid with pearl, golden trinkets...nothing to catch his eye. He puffed out a deep breath and leaned back in his chair, already bored, gazing blankly at the doorway.

A little dark head peeked around the corner and stared at him.

Prussia grinned and sat up. He liked kids! 'Hey, runt! Who're you?'

Hazel eyes continued to stare. Prussia puffed out his chest.

'I'm the awesome Prussia! Bet you've never seen anyone who looks like me, huh?'

The tiny boy- girl? Whatever, it was kinda cute and wearing a dress and inching across the room towards him like a skittish little animal. Prussia was good with wild animals- he'd learned that from Vati Germania a long time ago, all about how to keep his voice soothing and his eyes a little away and his body open and still. So he leaned slowly back into his chair, arms on the rests, and continued to smile without teeth, eye-line somewhere around that long auburn curl that floated off to one side of the messy, kerchiefed hair.

'I'm a friend of Spain,' he said cheerfully, his voice a little softer and gentler that the usual loud brashness. 'We're friends with France, too. You probably know him. Actually, I hope you don't for a few more years, he can be kinda scary for little guys like you. You are a guy, right? Why does Spain have you wearing a dress?'

The boy puffed out his cheeks and muttered something under his breath that sounded startlingly like 'stupid bastard,' but kept edging forward, clutching his apron in tight fists, until he stood at Prussia's legs, putting his tiny hands on the bigger boy's knees to peer up at the strange red eyes.

Prussia stared back. The little brunette frowned.

'Your eyes look like tomatoes,' he said matter-of-factly. 'Is it because you eat so many?'

Prussia was surprised, then laughed. 'Kesesese! Nah! I was just born this awesome. You can't change colours because of what you eat!'

The little boy smacked Prussia's leg rather sharply and gave a very grown-up scoff. 'Cheh! Idiot. Yes you can! It's why my cheeks turn red!'

'Uh-huh. Who told you that?'

'Boss Spain!' the tot said proudly, crossing his arms.

'Boss Spain? Oh, you must be South Italy-Romano! You know, you're about the same age as my little bro Holy Rome. How about I bring him over to play sometime?'

Romano glared and put his hands on his hips. 'We don't want any stupid potato eaters here!'

Prussia chuckled- this kid had _guts_- and got a kick in the shin for it. 'Ow! Damn, you're strong for a little guy.'

'Stop calling me little, you jerk!'

'Ow! Hey, just- no, stop. C'mere.' Prussia gathered up the spitting, swearing bundle of flailing arms and legs into his lap. 'Kesese! You're pretty tough, huh? You'll be good for mein kleinen HRE. Austria's probably trying to turn him into a whiny, scaredy pansy-boy.'

Romano gave up on struggling and scowled, slumping into Prussia's lap with his arms crossed. 'Austria's a douchebag.'

Prussia couldn't help another laugh bubbling out. Damn, this kid was great! 'You're pretty awesome, you know that? I'm gonna have to come and check out your own nation when you get a little bigger. I won't even conquer it, promise!'

Romano's cheeks turned red, Spain's supposed tomato shade, and grumbled something that sounded rude. Prussia ignored it and gently bounced the tot on his knees.

'Hey, you wanna get a snack while we wait for Spain to stop getting beat up by his boss? I make awesome cakes!'

Despite a little dark mumbling and suspicious glaring, Romano clutched one of Prussia's long fingers in his tiny hand all the way to the kitchen, and promptly sat on the counter where he was placed (though that might have been because Prussia handed him a big ripe tomato and a pile of flour to play in, or simply because of the wild-child-subduing power of Prussia's awesomeness!). Prussia happily joked and teased the irritable child as he quickly beat together eggs, butter, milk, and some fresh strawberries from a bowl in the cool root cellar. Romano towed him by the finger around the tomato garden while they waited for the cake to bake, telling Prussia all about evil squirrels and Spain's more stupid moments and scary turtles. Prussia couldn't remember the last time he'd spent an entire afternoon just laughing like that, with no-one trying to chase him down and nothing to hurry back to afterwards and no undercurrents of _well, sure we're laughing now...but I haven't forgotten that time you stabbed me, you jerk_. The cake wasn't bad, either. Romano stuffed his cheeks with crumby strawberries and custard and grumbled a rather begrudging, 'Well, it's not _disgusting_...bastard.'

When Spain finally showed up, tired and bruised but as cheerful as ever, the green-eyed young man sent Romano off to 'clean' so that the two older friends could spend their time together in peace, and waved his partner-in-mischief off that evening alone before disappearing back into the cool tiled hall of the house. Prussia didn't leave right away, though. He quietly snuck (and he wasn't sure why he needed to hide this from Spain, but it felt important, somehow) back around the house to the tomato garden, creeping through the leafy plants until he came to a small, grumbling figure in a green dress, sitting unhappily on the ground as he angrily yanked weeds out of the ground.

'Stupid...bastard little weeds, you think you're gonna choke out my tomatoes, heh? I'll rip your leaves off!'

Prussia chuckled and crept silently up behind the mumbling boy. Slowly stretching out his arms, he waiting for just the right moment...then seized the child into his arms, jostling and squeezing and tickling as his captive tried to shriek but found the sound dampened by Prussia's big blue coat. Laughing delightedly at his awesome attack, Prussia finally righted the boy and set him on his feet, smoothing down the skirts of the strange little green dress as he was violently verbally assaulted.

'Stupid jerk! What the fuck do you think you're doing, heh?'

Still chuckling, Prussia ruffled Romano's hair and rocked forward on his toes to crouch in front of him, ignoring the hands that knocked his out of the way. 'I have to go home now. But I'll come back and visit again soon, ok? There aren't any wars going on for now, so you're probably gonna get to spend lots of time with me and my awesomeness!'

'Chigi,' Romano muttered, crossing his arms and turning his flushed face away.

Prussia grinned. What a stubborn little thing, just like Holy Rome! Well, except for the attitude. And the dress. And...well, everything, really, except that stubborn streak and the size. Whatever, still cute. He stood up, grabbing the child and tossing him into the air to catch him into a tight hug before setting him, once more spitting curses, back on the ground. 'Well, catch ya later, Romano!' he said cheerfully, and made his way back out of the garden, keeping that floating auburn curl in his sight so he could turn round at the edge, cup his hands to his mouth, and yell back at the watching boy- 'Just remember- I'M AWESOME!'

He was grinning as he returned to Old Fritz. He'd definitely be seeing that little firecracker again.


End file.
